One teenager is claiming that Ashton Lundeby was known for making prank phone calls. William Grigg has a post with details: Ashton Lundeby is "Tyrone". It appears the mother knew her son had been involved with pranks. Read the whole post.
I would like the boy to be innocent. It appears there is a chance he did commit a crime.
We'll have to wait and see what happens.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education
5 comments:
When I first read about this the other day, I was understandably appalled at the government's behavior. But after just a little bit of digging into this story, my feelings have turned completely.
Follow the Wired.com story to YouTube and have a listen to some of the prank phone calls Ashton made as "Tyrone"... It's beyond disgusting what this kid calls a hobby. And his mother condoned it all?
Some of us homeschooling parents are trying to show the world that our kids are happy, normal, well adjusted students interested only in getting a better education. Obviously, none of that describes the "homeschooling" going on in the Lundeby home. He and his mom simply reinforce negative stereotypes.
I have to tell people in my life, time and again, that homeschoolers aren't special in the world. There are great homeschoolers, mediocre homeschoolers, and awful homeschoolers. Just because we choose to remove our children from public and private schools does not automatically give us the title of "great parent"--or any of the other titles (think of the word "martyr") that folks tend to give us.
We are just people, like everyone else, prone to mistakes and great feats of intelligence, and everything in-between.
Frankly, I have a hard time believing anything the media has involved itself in, as they are so likely to bend and manipulate the "facts" as to make this family at first seem saintly and then in turn seem like they're breeding terrorists.
Children all over the US do stupid, hurtful, and ill-intentioned things. Yes, they deserve discipline for those things. People also sometimes make questionable choices and redeem themselves later. All of the attention this child and his family are receiving only reinforces the possibility of further negativity. I think that we in the "community" can only do ourselves lots of harm when we quickly choose a "side" without knowing the family in question or all of the story. Just my $.02. Thanks, and now I'll get down from my soapbox.
"Patriot Act! Patriot Act!" has replaced "Wolf! Wolf!" as the careless cry of choice.
http://www.popehat.com/2009/05/07/omg-its-the-patriot-act-quick-panic/
Ashton and his sister were only "homeschooled" because he had problems at his school. They had been at home only for the current school year - and did everything on a computer. They did not belong to the homeschooling community - they just did "school" at home, were very isolated and alone.
Homeschoolers should not take a bad wrap for this kid's mess. He is not typical of the homeschooling community. What has happened to him and his family is sad and tragic but when we make mistakes we pay for them. When anyone breaks the law, they have to pay their debt to society. It is tragic that a young life is now ruined. Hopefully, all families will see the wisdom of the FBI - the Family Bureau of Investigation. Get in your kids' face, know what they are doing and take a stand. Prank calls, bullying, drugs, etc. are not cute. They are just plain wrong and parents need to stand up and have guts enough to teach their children right from wrong and hold them accountable. Just say no - No to your kids when they are doing stupid things. Real love cares enough to confront - it is much better than loving them on visiting days in prison.
Anonymous - you make a great point. One of the clear lessons from this is parents need to parent. This is a great point:
"Just say no - No to your kids when they are doing stupid things. Real love cares enough to confront - it is much better than loving them on visiting days in prison."
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